The present invention relates in general to a paper monitoring system and pertains, more particularly, to an automatic system for the monitoring of paper products. The system of the present invention may be used in the monitoring of paper in conjunction with a printing press or may also be used in other industries in which material is consumed in web form such as in the textile and packaging industries.
In certain processes it is desirable to monitor the utilization of materials. A specific example of this is in the printing industry in association with a printing press that uses rolls of paper, often referred to as a web press. In order to properly account for paper usage it is desirable to determine the amount of paper consumed and to furthermore differentiate between paper that is consumed in the press and paper that is discarded as waste.
In the printing industry it is common to employ a hoist scale for weighing a roll of paper before it is mounted into the press. Usually this weighing takes place after the outer covering layer has been removed from the roll. This technique provides an initial roll weight. However, the problem is that further paper may be discarded when or after the roll is mounted in the machine. Furthermore, at high rates of production, this use of a hoist scale creates a bottleneck to production.
The rolls of paper are typically provided with a weight stamped on the outer wrapper by the maker of the paper. One technique is to use a separate small capacity scale in which all scraps from a particular roll are weighed. After all of the waste from the roll is weighed on this small scale a button is pushed to record the waste as an entry pertaining to a particular roll and then the paper is removed from the scale into a waste bin. This technique is troublesome in that it requires an extra step for the operator and it also requires that all waste be disposed on this small scale. It is quite easy to circumvent the technique because people will tend to put waste directly into the waste bin.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved system for monitoring paper consumption or other material consumption and particularly as it comes in web form.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved system for the monitoring of paper particularly waste paper from a roll of paper that is introduced into a printing press.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved paper monitoring system in which both total roll weight is accounted for as well as the signatures from the press so as to provide a final basis weight or weight per unit area of the output signatures. The weight per unit area of the output signatures may also be expressed as signatures produced per pound of paper.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved automatic monitoring system for paper in connection with a web printing process and which readily takes into account paper consumed due to web breaks.